Fitness equipment maker Dyaco International Inc (岱宇國際) yesterday announced that it is to acquire North American exercise equipment brand Sole Fitness as part of its goal of transforming into an original brand manufacturer.
The company’s board of directors earlier yesterday approved the 100 percent share purchase of Fitness Equipment Services LLC for US$28 million on top of the net value of its assets and liabilities on the closing date of the deal, Dyaco said in an e-mailed statement, without giving a clear timeframe.
In a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange later yesterday, Dyaco said that it plans to set up a new US subsidiary to take over Sole Fitness, with an initial investment of US$35 million.
Sole Fitness is a major fitness equipment brand in North America targeting the mid-to-high-end home fitness equipment market, it said.
The two sides have been collaborating for 18 years, it added.
Dyaco supplies products to Sole Fitness on an original design manufacturing basis and helps sell the brand’s products outside of North America, Dyaco said, adding that it also assists in product development and design, patent filings and after-sales maintenance services.
Sole Fitness has posted about NT$2.3 billion (US$76.4 million) in average annual sales over the past three years, with an average gross margin of 23 percent and net profit of approximately NT$130 million, which would boost Dyaco’s finances, chairman Michael Lin (林英俊) said in the statement.
In addition, through the integration of resources on both sides, the acquisition would help Dyaco improve sales from online channels to physical stores in North America and further enhance the firm’s global competitiveness in the fitness equipment industry, Lin said.
Dyaco, which is headquartered in Taipei and has factories in Changhua County, manufactures fitness, health and wellness products for the home, commercial and medical markets. The company owns fitness equipment brands Spirit Fitness and Xterra Fitness, as well as produces and distributes products for other brands including Sole Fitness and Fuel Fitness.
Dyaco reported cumulative sales of NT$5.25 billion for the first 11 months of last year, up 7.34 percent year-on-year from NT$4.9 billion, while net profit for the first three quarters of last year increased to NT$112.91 million, from NT$7.36 million a year earlier.
Dyaco said in a separate filing that it is financially sound to carry out the acquisition, as it plans to use its own capital and bank loans, and would pay for the transaction in installments.
It added that it expects this month to complete a rights issue to raise NT$741 million.
UNPRECEDENTED PACE: Micron Technology has announced plans to expand manufacturing capabilities with the acquisition of a new chip plant in Miaoli Micron Technology Inc unveiled a newly acquired chip plant in Miaoli County yesterday, as the company expands capacity to meet growing demand for advanced DRAM chips, including high-bandwidth memory chips amid the artificial intelligence boom. The plant in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼), which Micron acquired from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion, is expected to make a sizeable capacity contribution to the company from fiscal 2028, the company said in a statement. It would be an extended production site of Micron’s large-scale manufacturing hub in Taichung, the company said. As the global semiconductor industry is racing to reach US$1 trillion
Singapore-based ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab Holdings Ltd has applied for regulatory approval to acquire the Taiwan operations of Germany-based Delivery Hero SE's Foodpanda in a deal valued at about US$600 million. Grab submitted the filing to the Fair Trade Commission on Friday last week, with the transaction subject to regulatory review and approval, the company said in a statement yesterday. Its independent governance structure would help foster a healthy and competitive market in Taiwan if the deal is approved, Grab said. Grab, which is listed on the NASDAQ, said in the filing that US-based Uber Technologies Inc holds about 13 percent of
Taiwan’s food delivery market could undergo a major shift if Singapore-based Grab Holdings Ltd completes its planned acquisition of Delivery Hero SE’s Foodpanda business in Taiwan, industry experts said. Grab on Monday last week announced it would acquire Foodpanda’s Taiwan operations for US$600 million. The deal is expected to be finalized in the second half of this year, with Grab aiming to complete user migration to its platform by the first half of next year. A duopoly between Uber Eats and Foodpanda dominates Taiwan’s delivery market, a structure that has remained intact since the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) blocked Uber Technologies Inc’s
Memory chip stocks extended their losses yesterday after Alphabet Inc’s Google publicized research that could allow more efficient use of the storage needed for artificial intelligence (AI) development. SK Hynix Inc and Samsung Electronics Co, South Korean leaders in the market, fell more than 6 percent and about 5 percent respectively in Seoul. In the US, Micron Technology Inc, Western Digital Corp and Sandisk Corp slid more than 2 percent in pre-market trading, after they all closed lower on Wednesday. Memory companies have been on a tear in recent months as the rapid development of AI infrastructure triggered a spike in chip